Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

Today a virtual gathering of 112 GoodTherapy.org Members enjoyed the second teleconference in our 2009 Teleconference Series: ‘Conflict Resolution: Skills for Couples & Counselors’ presented by Susan Heitler, Ph.D. Thank you Susan for sharing your work and teaching us about the art of conflict resolution.

Dr. Susan Heitler, Ph.D. graduated from Harvard in 1967, earned a masters degree in education at Boston University and then a doctorate in psychology from New York University. Susan has been a private practice clinical psychologist in Denver for 30 plus years and has made significant contributions to the theory and practice of psychotherapy. Her primary mission has been to highlight for therapists the importance of becoming an expert at conflict resolution. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Concord Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Conventional wisdom has insisted on complete abstinence for people who have drinking problems, but moderation may be better advice. The current issue of the Harvard Mental Health Newsletter reports that it may be best to recommend that men have up to two drinks per day and women, one drink per day. This is certainly a conservative definition of moderation for many drinkers, but an amount unlikely to cause ill health effects. The authors explain that individuals who are alcohol dependent will probably not be able to control the drinking to that extent, and therefore, may realize their alcohol dependence and seek help.

After all, how many people who are dependent on alcohol take advice from anyone to abstain? It’s common that alcoholics who eventually accept treatment, do so because of some type of serious consequence of their drinking. The loss may be of a marriage, a home, a job, relationships with children, prison, serious health problems or something else. No one can say what will convince a particular dependent person to quit drinking, but advice is rarely a motivation. Some people with alcohol dependence never quit for good. Learning for oneself that just a drink or two per day isn’t possible may provide an individual with evidence that he or she needs treatment.

For other drinkers, moderation can prevent the terrible sinkhole that is dependency on alcohol. The progression from excessive drinking to dependence to the ill health and social effects of alcoholism is much more easily understood by someone who drinks too much, yet hasn’t developed a dependency and the denial that accompanies alcoholism. Drinking in moderation is attainable for this group and can save them from that dangerously rocky, downhill road of alcoholism.

©Copyright 2009 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Jolyn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile.

By Jeanette Raymond, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Jeanette and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Shantal’s relief at opening her front door lasted exactly one minute. One look at Andre’s face told her that he was overflowing with irritation. She braced herself for the complaints he had stored up during her absence at a work conference. The barrage began right away. Shantal escaped to the bedroom. She crawled into bed without bothering to unpack, and tuned out. She felt like a dumpster being filled with four days worth of stinking trash.

Andre put his arm around his wife and nibbled at her ears. That usually turned her on, but not this time. She said she was tired after her trip and wasn’t in the mood for sex. Andre let out a big sigh. He had been looking forward to making love with his wife. He had hoped that a few days apart would make her want him again. His imagination went wild with images of a frustrating sexless marriage. That would be unacceptable What was he to do? He didn’t want to cheat, and he couldn’t tolerate the thought of Shantal looking elsewhere for sexual satisfaction. Read the rest of this entry

By Will Nuessle, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Will and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

“I feel fine every time she’s around me now
And she’s around me now, almost all the time
When I’m well you can tell she’s been with me now
And she’s been with me now such a long, long time
And I feel fine”

“Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning
And I find myself careening
Down to the place I must not let me go.
She has the power to go where no-one else can find me
And silently remind me
Of the happiness and good times that I know.”
~James Taylor from “Something in the Way She Moves”

The words in this James Taylor song express the need for love and understanding that we all want from a safe nurturing relationship. Unfortunately many times it is difficult for people to form the secure trusting relationship bond that leads to a calming effect on upset emotions. Instead relationship conflict can often send a couple into a seemingly endless and very destructive cycle of either blame and recrimination or pained withdrawal. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Update Presented by Jolyn Wells-Moran, PhD, MSW

Persuasive evidence of the same genetic cause for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia was published this month in Lancet, January 16, 2009. The study, conducted by medical scientists in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Karolinska Institutet, a Swedish university medical center, included two million families. There has been a growing body of evidence that suggests a link between the disorders, but the researchers claim this study shows positive proof, according to a press release from Karolinska Instituet.

Karolinska’s researchers looked at records of 35,985 people with schizophrenia, 40,487 people with bipolar disorder and their relatives. Both genetic and environmental factors were considered and they found that genes played a remarkably larger part in determining incidence of both disorders than did environmental factors. They concluded that: 1) people with a relative who has schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are at greater risk of developing one of the disorders; 2) people with a relative who has one of the disorders are likely to have another relative with either one of the disorders and; 3) people with schizophrenia are more likely to develop bipolar disorder than others. The study found that sisters and brothers of people with either disorder were nine times more likely to develop bipolar or schizophrenic disorders.

This news is important to researchers who, for decades, have studied the disorders independently of each other. Bipolar disorder is classified as a mood disorder and schizophrenia as a psychotic disorder in the current and previous DSM, the most commonly used diagnostic manual in North America. This information is also likely to be of interest to genetics counselors and families in which one or more members have or had either or both of the disorders.

©Copyright 2009 by GoodTherapy.org All Rights Reserved. Questions or concerns about the following article can be directed to the author or posted as a comment to this blog entry. Click here to contact Jolyn and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile.

No one appreciates the onset of a headache - whether dull or sharp, behind the eyes or covering the surface of the skull, a headache can interfere with work, school, playtime, and one’s overall ability to focus and cope with the stresses of daily life. But for over thirty million Americans, headaches are far more debilitating. This group is afflicted by migraines, a type of headache notable for its intense pain and sustained duration, causing extreme sensitivity to noise and light, and making even the simplest of tasks difficult. Most migraine sufferers find that medicines - whether over the counter or prescribed by a doctor - have little effect on their symptoms. This can result in serious problems in one’s professional and personal life, and is a major concern in modern health care. But a new study published this month in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry suggests that those with depressive disorders are at high risk for migraine headaches, and the converse is true as well.

Those with a long history of migraine headaches are often concurrently diagnosed with depression in a variety of forms, which can stem from feelings of helplessness and futility in connection with migraine symptoms. Working with data compiled by the German National Health review, the new study’s researchers found that those with anxiety and related disorders were significantly more likely to report instances of migraines, as well. In fact, as much as eighty three percent of migraine sufferers were also afflicted by anxiety or a depressive disorder. These conditions may cause more suffering for victims than the headaches themselves, leading doctors to urge patients to seek treatment and therapy for psychiatric complaints as well as actual migraines. The researchers suggest that introducing a course of therapy for either problem will naturally benefit the other.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Glendale Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

When flipping through the stations of a radio while on the go, it’s a common treat to come upon a song that strikes a certain inner chord - for its sound or for its lyrics, we can easily become attracted to new music. But an even more fascinating phenomenon lies within the experience of tuning into an old classic, whether it’s a long-time favorite or simply something heard long ago during formative years. For most people, hearing and recognizing an old song brings back vivid memories. Certain events or periods in life may flash through the mind, or detailed scenes may replay, all at the stirring of those special notes. But recently a psychology team at Kansas State University wanted to find out if it was the actual hearing of old songs that brought about vivid memories of the past, or whether the brain can produce these scenes and images without the aid of aural stimulation.

Researchers compiled lists of older songs from a broad range of students at the university, creating a body of music sure to ring bells for the test subjects. Control groups were shown the list, exposed only to the titles and artists, while test groups were exposed to clips of the songs themselves, and others were given printed lyrics or album art. Participants then wrote detailed memories associated with given songs. Interestingly enough, those shown only the list of titles and artists produced memories and images that were just as detailed as those who were exposed to the sensory stimuli, leading the research team to conclude that that our own inner representations of songs are as powerful as the experience of actually hearing them. So next time you long to hear a favorite childhood tune, just hum along or recall its chorus and you’ll be on your way down memory lane.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Albuquerque Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

By Lisa Brookes Kift, MFT

Click here to contact Lisa and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

My psychotherapy practice has always revolved around family of origin work in some way – and I’m very passionate about the work itself. Watching people make deep, fundamental shifts in how they view themselves and the world is powerful to observe – and potentially life changing for them.

So what is family of origin work?

I define “family of origin work” as the exploration of a person’s experiences with parents and/or primary caregivers to uncover unhelpful belief systems (core beliefs) negatively impacting their adult functioning. Read the rest of this entry

Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

I want to play for you a version of the Star-Spangled Banner that moved me and my friends to tears Tuesday morning while watching President Obama take office.

Click here to Play the Updated Star Spangled Banner

This version of the Star-Spangled Banner was written by Karen Stocker, a friend, colleague, and heart-centered therapist in the Seattle area. I’m sure you will feel her inspiration when you read the words below or listen to the recording. For me her song is about ‘patriotism revised’, an anthem for the human race, not just Americans; for we are all in this together.

You are welcome to leave comments for Karen below and, if you’d like to contact her, I can forward your request. Just contact us using the support form

May this open all our hearts to what the world needs now…love sweet love.

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

Karen’s Star Spangled Banner:

Love
has called me to sing
to the new
Daybreak Star
all I’ve longed
to believe
that my country’s flag stands for;

Whose bright hearts
and great minds
can no more
study war
but now cherish
the Earth
and her yearning, tired and poor;

Till our power
to care
for this Life
we all share
Restores
the world’s Hope
that our soul is still there.

Today may my people
prove brave and truly free
to lift every voice
in the Harmony
of Just
Peace.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Oakland Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

by Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director GoodTherapy.org

In even the darkest of times, there is one particular essence of the human spirit which compels us to prevail and prosper; though we may experience great trials and witness ourselves and our lives subjected to disappointing and sometimes painful circumstances, hope is a part of the human experience which belies our deeply positive and creative nature. Hope may come in a variety of forms, from the simplest symbol, like the vibrant petals of a crocus emerging from winter’s snowy blanket, to the greatest acts of perseverance, as in those afflicted with terminal illnesses who nevertheless accomplish amazing things. But whether hope is embodied in a metaphor or brazenly displayed in our actions, it has the power to nourish and heal; to improve and uplift; to bring about a brighter future.

There is perhaps no greater embodiment of hope for the future today than the figure of Barack Obama, who will attend his inauguration and become the forty-fourth President of the United States before the sun has set. For millions of Americans and the people of distant nations all around the world, the inauguration marks a new devotion to peace and prosperity, as well as big hopes for the years to come. Through the past eight years, the United States has seen war, aggression, several domestic tragedies, financial upheaval, and an administrative show of disdain for many of those values that Americans and their friends abroad hold dear. But though the events themselves, as well as the rapidly growing discontent with the government and the image of the people projected by its policies, may have threatened, the collective will to reinvent and reconsider, they stand today as obstacles inviting the country to forge a new path.

Many people are counting on the new President to follow through with those initiatives and policy changes that affect them most. Some may be awaiting the return of a loved one from military service in Iraq, celebrating Obama’s commitment to a swift and gracious homecoming for US troops. Others are concerned about the state of the environment and how we regulate our interaction with it, ringing in the inauguration with visions of green technology and a greater devotion to ecological living. Still others eagerly anticipate the refinement of health care, trusting that a new administration will work hard to deliver its ideals of universal care in ways that will improve and empower their lives. From the small towns and metropolises of America to the most poverty-stricken places on Earth and the intellectual centers of Europe and Asia, dreams await their realization, and hardships taste their end. Though there are innumerable wishes and personal victories being uttered in homes across the nation and the globe today in tandem with Obama’s official inauguration, they all represent our innermost attribute, timeless and immortal: hope.

United in dreams of a better future, and in our determination to help create a happier and more prosperous world, American citizens and human beings from every nation have come together to witness the change in presidency and experience the beginning of what promises to be a new and joyous era. With hope in our hearts and a vast hunger for understanding, knowledge, patience, and brotherhood, we make our way towards a world where children can be happy and free, elders can be healthy and at peace, and adults can work with and respect one another. And though these goals may be lofty, though they may need many years or even decades to accomplish, and though the new American President may not fulfill every promise or realize every goal, our hope tells us that all we truly need to make it happen is precisely what we know, today, we have: the opportunity.

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Houston Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

By Jennifer Lehr, MA, MFT

Click here to contact Jennifer and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Making love last is a concern for anybody with a relationship history that has included disappointment, pain and loss. How do we do it differently the next time around?

What starts for so many as a blissful connected loving state often turns into sadness riddled with problematic behavior and seemingly un-resolvable conflicts. How can we learn to have lasting, productive and satisfying relationships? While innate chemistry and compatibility are important, creating fulfilling relationships that last, is far more complex than that. Is it possible to learn to create connections in which love can flourish? Yes, it is possible if we look at successful relationships as a developmental milestone and life skill. Just as other tasks in life require knowledge and practice, learning to create the context for a successful relationship can happen with practice, knowledge, and awareness. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

After the stresses of pregnancy and birth and the approaching responsibilities of motherhood, having a child can produce a fair amount of anxiety and depression, even in those new mothers who experience joy in connection with their child. In the modern climate of pharmaceutical breakthroughs, this Post-Partum Depression is often shrugged off as a pesky result of some pregnancies, and treated with a regimen of anti-depressants or other drugs. But two new studies performed by the University of Toronto in Canada and the University of Huddersfield in the United Kingdom suggest that cognitive behavioral therapy can be a more effective tool in the struggle against PPD, and is significantly more successful in alleviating depressed feelings among new mothers than traditional post-natal medical care alone. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Philadelphia Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary

It’s a common condition portrayed in films and thrown around as a buzzword in popular media, but for those who suffer its symptoms, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a serious ailment that can reach far beyond mood-altering periods to become a substantial negative element of day to day functioning. While a majority of cases are diagnosed in combat veterans and those who have been subjected to the hardship of war, roughly eight percent of Americans are afflicted by PTSD as a result of some traumatic event during the course of civilian life.

So for the over twenty five million Americans affected by PTSD, a recent study from the University of Oxford may transcend its novelty to present a viable and easy to perform option for easing symptoms. A common feature of the disorder is the experience of flashbacks; detailed to varying degrees, these visual interruptions pull traumatic events from the memory and subject the sufferer to lifelike reenactments of a moment or action. The Oxford research team has found that the specific way in which these flashbacks use the brain’s processing is visual-spatial, and that this processing can be diverted to a new and different task, preventing the offending scenes from emerging. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Boulder Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

Dear Members and Visitors to GoodTherapy.org,

Today a virtual gathering of 92 GoodTherapy.org Members enjoyed the first teleconference in our 2009 Teleconference Series: ‘The Power of Undefended Love’presented by Marlena Lyons, Ph.D. & Jett Psaris, Ph.D. Big ‘thank yous’ to Jett & Marlena for presenting on their work with Undefended Love.

Jett Saris, Ph.D. and Marlena Lyons, Ph.D are co-founders of the Conscious Living Center, a counseling and workshop center in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have been leading seminars and retreats which guide couples and individuals to cultivate the capacity for undefended love since 1990.

Marlena has been in private practice specializing in relationship issues since 1979. Jett came to the field of psycho-spiritual work in 1988, after a decade in business as an executive in several high-profile companies.

Through their work together, they have gone beyond researching the reasons why people have failed to create exceptional relationships and have developed a unique approach to accelerate personal and relationship development to allow individuals to connect with themselves and each other in an undefended and open way.

Jett and Marlena have authored a wonderful book together, Undefended Love, and they offer many different workshops, including a Foundation Course on Undefended Love, which begins February 7th & 8th. In addition to their work in Undefended Love, Jett and Marlena are branching out into the realm of MidLife material and they have an upcoming book, Taking the Midlife Leap, One Step at a Time. Both Jett and MarLayNa are in private practice and offer sessions in person, over the phone and by Skype. For more information about Jett and MarLayNa, their books, their workshops, or their practices you can find their website address here: Undefended Love

Thanks again to Jett and Psaris and all of you who attended today’s event,
Noah :)

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT
Executive Director
http://www.GoodTherapy.org

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Laguna Beach Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Dennis Thoennes, Ph.D., ABPP

Click here to contact Dennis and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

It is customary for a therapist to facilitate a client’s thinking and feeling “outside the box”, to “wake up and smell the coffee”. Therapists want to assist clients to release the constraints of what is “customary” or “normal” for them and explore the world of thoughts and feelings that have been taboo or off limits. The other end of the spectrum is also, sometimes, the therapeutic focus i.e. learning to self regulate and develop the skills for expressing feelings such as anger in socially appropriate, non-abusive ways. Certainly there are clients who need such therapeutic assistance.

I remember a colleague commenting “I make it very clear to each and every one of my clients that I will not be sexual with them and that my office is not a place for expressing rage and anger.” Sometimes, in some situations, for some clients such clear and definite boundaries are appropriate or necessary.

Years ago I had a television set with rabbit ears for an antenna. The signal was often blurred and I would get headaches as my eyes tried to reconcile the blurred images. It often is the distress of blurred boundaries and tangled experiences that brings people to therapy.

Some states credentialing requirements or guidelines or those of some professional groups may require a therapist to include in his or her office policy very clear language about, for example, sexual boundaries. Heeding such directives or advice may be legally necessary and professionally appropriate. In the intricacies and dynamic processes of the therapy session what was printed in an office policy is likely to fade out of awareness for the client. If a therapist recognizes that a client is having romantic or sexual feelings for the therapist it would not be appropriate for the therapist to kindle the client’s affections for the therapist. In the interest of properly tending professional boundaries, throwing the proverbial bucket of cold water on the client may be “safe” but counter therapeutic. Read the rest of this entry

By Noah Rubinstein, LMFT, Executive Director

How Not to Market Your Therapy Practice :)

Having years of experience learning to market my own practice, combined with detailed data of what works in a GoodTherapy.org profile and what doesn’t work, I feel uniquely positioned to give you a head start toward drawing people to your practice. Many of you are experienced at marketing and may find some of my recommendations painfully obvious. I nonetheless encourage you to read through my suggestions to see if there’s some new element you might integrate with what you are already doing. I also encourage you to take a long reflective look at what you write in your profile. Just as the therapy profession requires therapists to self-reflect, to gain self-awareness, and to do their own therapy, I find that marketing is also a powerful window to the soul which can teach us a lot about who we are and how we relate to others.

Having read nearly every profile that has ever been created on GoodTherapy.org; I have come to see the profile a bit like a personality test. With enough practice it becomes easy to read profiles and identify those members who will likely be successful in private practice and those who will likely struggle. I think that those therapists who are attracting people to their practice are doing a number of things fundamentally different from those who are not attracting clients. I hope you will use my recommendations and tips as an opportunity for self-reflection and for growth as an advertiser and as a therapist.

I have published these tips in the member’s area and encourage you to login and have a look:
http://www.goodtherapy.org/login.html

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Fullerton Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

Take a look at most any natural phenomenon, and eventually you’ll observe within it a current of violence; from the aggression and carnage played out on the wild savannahs of Africa by fierce predators to the very nature of how the universe was formed, the natural world is marked by cycles of clashes and calamities. Yet although violence seems an inherent and inextricable part of the world around us, we are compelled to abhor it in ourselves; global goals for world peace, love, and mediation comprise some of the most important issues of modern human society. As civilization progresses, we are coming to understand ourselves as more advanced beings, capable of cooperation and harmony where other species must resort to bloodshed. But is the scourge of violence an essential human trait that can never be eradicated, or is it a product of the social environment? And, importantly, what does this mean in the context of a world where children can kill?

Some of the most jarring news stories to sweep the United States in the past decade have covered neither politics nor financial crises, but rather solid demonstrations of the ability of youths to acquire firearms, construct elaborate plans, and carry out grisly killings. In April of 1999, two students succeeded in ending the lives of twelve of their peers at Columbine High School in Colorado, while a more recent school-related massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007 resulted in the deaths of 32 people, including the perpetrator, a college student. The years in between have been peppered with accounts of violent acts carried out by minors, and have led to a heightened national awareness of danger from what would seem a highly unusual source. But while these stories may well be shocking, and certainly tragic, they may speak to a deeper social concern. The strong evidence for the capacity of children to kill suggests an admixture of science and simple sensibility; neither wholly intrinsic in human nature, nor extracted entirely from a magic formula of environmental factors, violence among children is a problem with several sources, and which requires a comprehensive examination. Read the rest of this entry

© Copyright 2009 by http://www.GoodTherapy.org Therapist Lafayette Bureau - All Rights Reserved.

By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Arthur and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

Many adopted and foster children have had very difficult and painful histories with their first parents. These children have experienced chronic early maltreatment within a caregiving relationship. Such a history can lead to the development of Complex Trauma (Cook et. al., 2003; Cook et. al., 2005), disorders of attachment, and Reactive Attachment Disorder. Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems (Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, & Arnoff, 1996; Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). These children are likely to develop Reactive Attachment Disorder (Greenberg, 1999; Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 1999). Approximately 2% of the population is adopted, and between 50% and 80% of such children have attachment disorder symptoms (Carlson, Cicchetti, Barnett, & Braunwald, 1995; Cicchetti, Cummings, Greenberg, & Marvin, 1990). Many of these children are violent (Robins, 1978) and aggressive (Prino & Peyrot, 1994) and as adults are at risk of developing a variety of psychological problems (Schreiber & Lyddon, 1998) and personality disorders, including antisocial personality disorder (Finzi, Cohen, Sapir, & Weizman, 2000), narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and psychopathic personality disorder (Dozier, Stovall, & Albus, 1999). Therapeutic Parenting is often necessary to help these children heal (Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., 2005/2008). This approach to parenting is often not familiar to most parents and requires a significant amount of work and preparation. Attachment facilitating parenting is grounded in attachment theory and is based on a set of principles that include: Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Mary Ellen Barnes, Ph.D. & Ed Wilson, Ph.D., MAC

Click here to contact Mary Ellen and/or see her Profile
Click here to contact Ed and/or see his Profile

A colleague recently asked me for my assessment of the applicability of the “disease model” of alcoholism with regard to Native Americans. She asked not only because my adopted children are Inyupik, and from alcohol devastated families in northwestern Alaska, but also because I have worked in non-traditional ways of combating alcohol abuse for over twenty years.

My answers have evolved out of the past forty years of my experience, work, observations, research, discussion, and reflection.

To begin with, the repeatedly discredited “disease model” negatively impacts everyone suffering from alcohol abuse – not just Native Americans; and second, “Native American” is also a counter-productive term, one implying that there is only one homogeneous group indigenous to North America. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

To exemplify, Alaska alone, is home to three distinctly different “Native” groups: Aleuts; the Yupiks and Inyupiks (”Eskimos”); and over twenty different “Indian” tribes. Within and between these entities the degree of alcohol use and abuse varies widely and so do solutions to their alcohol related problems.”

However, it is true that across the continent, including Alaska and Canada, Native Americans do exhibit a higher percentage of alcohol abuse and dependence than many other groups, though again, not in every case. Still, given the high incidence it’s tempting to want alcoholism to be a disease, rather than looking for more complicated and less forgiving causes. However, regardless of the group being considered, alcohol abuse and dependence rates really are a reflection of an accumulation of contributing social, psychological, biological, and cultural factors. Read the rest of this entry

A GoodTherapy.org Featured Column written by Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC

Click here to contact Sarah and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

“In nature we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Within each of us survive volumes of stories, an ever-expansive library of sorts that holds the perceptions about people, events, and experiences in our lives. Each story ends and dove tails into the others, weaving a tapestry of tales that the unconscious reads often, and we come to believe as truth. Right now, your ego is the storyteller, a teller of tales, albeit one who is reluctant to rewrite them.

All of our perceptions about our internal and external worlds unfold from the stories that the ego holds on to as truth. Throughout our lives, the ego has collected volumes and volumes of narratives, “stories” about you, others, and the world around it. You can bet that no matter how the story is “written” the larger message from the ego is that you are “separate” from other people, not connected, and are alone in your feelings and experiences. You see, the ego only wants us to access stories that perpetuate the idea that we are separate from the world and ironically, separate from our true selves.

The fact is that we all do this. The illusion of our separateness appears in our forgetting that others often share the same “stories” as we do. The ego’s greatest stories are those that perpetuate the idea we are not like our friends, co-workers, therapists, friends, loved ones. They just could not have had similar thoughts and fears as we do. Certainly, the way that those stories are presented, or the circumstances, may be different, but we all are human. Read the rest of this entry